![]() ![]() 6–9 stands for 1600–1900, 8- for 1800 until now (or more precisely, the time of compilation). The information on possible variability of this verb can therefore only be gleaned from the historical overview. * Note: in contrast to all other verbs, the OED does not give the past tense/past participle forms for stink as a paradigm (s.v. However, even in standard English today we can observe some fluctuation between two different past tense forms, as the film title above indicates, and different dictionaries permit this fluctuation in different verbs, as table 1 shows. In standard English these nine verbs have past tense forms in and past participles in, resulting in three-part paradigms like sing – sang – sung or begin – began – begun where past tense and past participle are clearly distinct. It is only in this second group of verbs that we can find interesting variation, and for this reason only this smaller group of verbs will be investigated in detail here. The second group is slightly smaller and consists of begin, drink, ring, shrink, sing, sink, spring, stink and swim. Bybee Reference Bybee1995 Bybee & Moder Reference Bybee and Moder1983), I have called this group ‘Bybee verbs’ (with Joan Bybee's permission). Since Joan Bybee has worked extensively on the pattern of these verbs (e.g. sling – slung – slung strike – struck – struck). The larger of these groups consists of the verbs cling, dig, fling, hang, sling, slink, spin, stick, sting, strike, string, swing, win and wring they form their past tense and past participle identically by way of vowel change to (i.e. In standard English today, we can observe two groups of verbs that on the one hand are very similar, yet on the other hand form their past tenses in a distinct way. ![]() Honey, I shrunk the kids – the title of an American blockbuster film – left at least some speakers of English doubting: shouldn't it be shrank, or is shrunk also quite acceptable? Is shrunk perhaps a typically American form, or is it simply ‘wrong’? This small example raises several interesting questions: who determines what is ‘correct’ in English, have these norms changed over time, and do ‘normal’ speakers adhere to these norms? If they do not, what possible reasons are there?
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